Diamonds Information

Diamonds are the hardest substance on earth. They are precious minerals which illuminate brightly,giving them a sparkling glow. Learn more!

Diamonds are minerals which consists of carbon packed into a tight crystalline form. The light entering the mineral's top part once it was cut gives it that sparkling glow once it also goes out on the same part. There are several forms of diamonds. They are diamond proper, bort, ballas and carbonado. Diamond proper is known as the crystalline gemstone. Borts are tough, dark-colored, imperfectly crystallized diamonds. Ballas ones are compact and tough while carbonado are carbon-colored ones without slants.

Their 10-rating based on a scale of 1 to 10 makes them the hardest substance on earth, as recorded by the mohs hardness scale. This was invented by German minerologist Friedrich Mohs. Yet the hardness of a diamond's surface depends on its cut.

A diamond has many properties. One of it is color: colorless, yellow, brown, green, blue and the rarest of all, the red ones. Some elements consisting of just a small portion in a diamond gives its color. Other properties include brilliance, fire, luster and fluorescent glow once diamonds are struck by sunlight. It results in the light blue, milky white and red shine in other gems. They are also cold when touched and acid-resistant.

The exact origin of diamonds are still unknown but researchers theorized that extreme pressure and heat are involved in the formation of diamonds. Magma inside a volcano is probably where diamonds originate. Once extreme heat and pressure mixes, an eruption occurs and hence, the pipes characteristic of diamonds are blown upward and take form in sedimentary rocks. Some diamonds are also found in meteorites in its graphite form.

Some diamonds can be found underwater which was near where these mineral deposits came from. Others can be found in other minerals like sandstones, conglomerates, etc. which were once a part of the alluvial deposits during the earlier era when geologic changes took place.

Extremely small-sized diamonds known as hexagonal diamonds were found in meteorites. They were similar to the common cubic diamonds but its angle has been turned to about 60 degrees from the cubic diamond's position. These hexagonal diamonds are contained in the graphite form of meteorites during impact to the earth's atmosphere. They are blended in extremely hot temperatures.